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Whether you teach class music, or are a peripatetic/private instrumental teacher, Music Teacher will provide you with invaluable ideas for your teaching, with substantial online lesson materials and a range of practical features. Packed with reviews, news, comment and debate, as well as the latest jobs, professional development opportunities and fantastic special offers, Music Teacher is all you need to teach music.

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Julian Lloyd Webber retires from performance

29 April 2014

British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber has been forced to bring
an end to his performance career due to a herniated disc in his neck which has
reduced the power in his right arm.

Lloyd Webber’s final performance as a cellist will take
place on 2 May at the Forum Theatre, Malvern with the English Chamber
Orchestra.

In a statement to his agent, Lloyd Webber said:

‘I am devastated. There were so
many exciting plans that cannot now come to fruition. I have had an immensely
fulfilling career and feel privileged to have worked with so many great
musicians and orchestras but now I have to move on.

I have no intention of enduring a
forced retirement though. I would like to use the knowledge I have gained
through my life as a musician and an educator to give back as much as I can to
the music profession which has given me so much over the years.

I have just completed two new
recordings which will be released later this year but after 2 May my cello
will fall silent. I now need time to reflect and to consider this sudden
and distressing life-changing situation and there will be no further comment at
this time.’

Lloyd Webber’s determination to keep giving back to the
music community is a testament to his passion for music education. He was
recently awarded the ISM’s ‘Distinguished Musician Award’ in recognition of his
contribution to this field.

More details of Julian Lloyd Webber’s plans for the next
stage of his career will be discussed in the June edition of Music Teacher.

NCO turmoil: Statements from both sides

28 April 2014

Following our coverage of recent disputes
regarding the management of the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain
(NCO) and the petition launched by the authors of the website www.ournco.org.uk, we have received
statements from both ourNCO and the NCO board, as follows:

A statement from OurNCO:

‘The NCO is a wonderful and much-loved
institution that has nurtured the musical talents of thousands of children and
launched many professional careers. Integral to its success is the expertise
and tireless support of staff, conductors, teachers, social staff, parents and
numerous other givers of time and energy. These vital stakeholders are being
entirely ignored as the NCO board attempts to drive through fundamental changes
to NCO. At the heart of the problem is the fact that the current members of the
board appoint themselves, make decisions among themselves, refuse to publish
agendas or notes of their meetings, make decisions behind closed doors, are
wholly unaccountable and will not consult. For any organisation, especially a
children’s music charity, this is quite wrong. For over two years a group of
concerned stakeholders, including NCO parents and musicians, has been attempting
quietly to persuade the board that it must change and become accountable. Every
argument and suggestion has been dismissed out of hand. We had no choice but to
go public to protect the future of an organisation we care so much about.

‘That 1750-plus supporters have signed the
petition so quickly shows how overwhelming is the support for constitutional
change. However, the board has not made one statement in acknowledgement that
there is a problem at all. It appears content to issue all kinds of material
attempting to show it works well, or, quite outrageously, to claim that the
successes delivered by NCO staff are down to its own efforts. The board has
made a number of misleading claims in an attempt to discredit opposition to it,
such that [NCO founder] Vivienne Price is attempting to wrest back control or
that Roger Clarkson retains sole responsibility for musical matters. The record
has been put straight on www.ournco.org.uk and Facebook. The board
is using its energies to attack opposition to it rather than discuss rationally
how change can be managed in the interests of all.

‘There is no argument to be made against
openness and accountability. The continuation of NCO’s wonderful legacy for
future children is too important to be put at risk at the hands of the
self-appointed and self-interested. That is why we are calling for resignations
and reform.’

A Statement from the NCO board:

‘Only five years ago, the NCO was in
financial straits. The board at that time fought long and hard to recover the
situation, as things just could not continue as they were. Their efforts gave
the NCO enough money to continue on a day-to-day basis and to invest for our future.
All through this difficult period the board worked to keep Vivienne’s vision
alive, because each and every one of them supports the NCO wholeheartedly. We
were able to give more children the opportunity to transform their lives
through music, and now we offer more bursaries than ever before. For this, all
members of the board, even those who have joined recently, have been described
as ‘bean counters’, as being ‘secretive’, and as ‘lacking in understanding’. On
the contrary, the current board, which counts among its number an alumna, music
professionals and NCO parents, do this work voluntarily. They understand
exactly how to protect Vivienne’s vision and Vivienne and Roger’s
transformational teaching of children in our modern professional world.

‘We have been accused of not listening.
This is just not true. We have initiated a consultation programme with all
interested groups, and have drawn up the NCO’s first full business plan based
on this feedback. The consultation programme involved the NCO staff in forming
an initial business plan, and engagement with music tutors, parents and social
staff has been feeding into the plan, something not done before in the NCO’s history.
We have been working on governance changes for some months, even before the
launch of ourNCO.com. We are proud to have moved away from a model where
trustees were only appointed if they had personal connections and could serve
indefinitely, to one where trustees are recruited by open advertisement and for
a restricted period, following Charity Commission guidelines. New relationships
have been developed with organisations and new support found from funders, and we
continue to be extremely grateful to everyone who has given in the past. All
this is now at risk. We remain deeply sorry that Vivienne is so upset. If some
things have not been done well, we are sorry – but we have made our very best
efforts. As a board we remain confident that the decisions that have been made
have been made with proper consultation and will ensure that the NCO, founded
by Vivienne, will continue to go from strength to strength.’

Youth Music Invests in Education

25 April 2014

The National Foundation for Youth Music announced this week
that it will be awarding grants totalling £1.2m to ten pioneering music
education projects.

The funding will be invested in developing partnerships
between schools and music education providers who do not usually work in a
school environment. This ‘Exchanging Notes’ initiative will be monitored over a
four-year period by a team from Birmingham City University that will evaluate
the musical and educational outcomes of these new partnerships.

Projects benefitting from this funding include Opera North
working with Winifred Holtby Academy in Hull, Kinetika Bloco working with St
Gabriel’s College in London, and Derbyshire Music Education Hub working across
the county’s Virtual Schools Network. The young people involved are those
believed to be at risk of low attainment, disengagement or educational
exclusion. Through this initiative it is hoped that participants will be
empowered to develop their own creative life skills, using formal and informal
music-making to improve their general learning.

Youth Music’s executive Matt Griffiths says: ‘In designing
the Exchanging Notes programme, we encouraged schools, music organisations and
local music education hubs to work together. We look forward to the outcome of
this action research project with great excitement as it is the first time such
a rigorous study of combined approaches between schools and music providers,
who normally work in out-of-school settings, has been done. The results may well
turn out to be of enormous significance to stimulate fresh thinking in music
education and support the aspirations set out in the National Plan for Music
Education.’

120th BBC Proms Unveiled

24 April 2014

Details of the 2014 BBC Proms were released this
afternoon, promising two months, 92 concerts, 12 world premieres and 10
newly-featured international ensembles amongst this year’s exciting line-up of
events.

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One
the Proms will be reflecting on the music, musicians and musical legacy of the
Great War. Collaborating with the National Theatre for the first time, the War
Horse Prom (3 August) features life-size puppets from the west end production,
as well as the modern day premiere of Sir Henry Wood’s recently-discovered New
War Hymn and a performance by Gareth Malone’s Proms Military Wives Choir. The
War Horse Prom will also be forming the basis of this year’s Proms Plus Family
Orchestra and Chorus, where families can play music alongside professional
musicians.

The BBC Proms has expanded its
educational Proms Plus series for this summer, with more free workshops, talks
and events at the Royal College of Music that serve to complement the main BBC
Proms concerts. Proms Plus Intros, which give the audience an opportunity to
learn more about the evening’s repertoire, will be focusing on global classical
music. These sessions include a spotlight on Turkey (29 July), the Czech
Republic (24 August), Hungary (25 August), South Korea (27 August) and Singapore
(2 September).

For the first time, both Bach’s St
John and St Matthew Passions will be performed at the Proms. Singers of all
levels of experience (including none!) will be able to join members of the BBC
Singers in workshops before hearing these works performed at the Proms.

The 80th birthdays of
two of Britain’s most important living composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle and
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, will be celebrated alongside significant birthdays of
some of the country’s leading conductors. The Proms Plus Composer Portrait will
allow audiences to get to know more about some of the living composers whose
works are being performed, through in-depth interviews with Birtwistle, Maxwell
Davies, David Horne and Sally Beamish.

Tickets go on sale from 9am on
Saturday 17 May 2014 via bbc.co.uk/proms or 0844 209
7353, and in person at the Royal Albert Hall.

Distinguished Musician Award for Julian Lloyd Webber

24 April 2014

This year’s prestigious Distinguished Musician Award was
presented last week to British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, in recognition of his
great dedication to the world of music education.

The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) presented the
award in partnership with Classic FM. Both partners were impressed by Julian
Lloyd Webber’s passion for bringing music to young people from all backgrounds,
as well his successful campaigning to promote music as a respected area of
study. As chairman of Sistema England, Julian has helped to inspire thousands
of primary schoolchildren across the country, and his work as a key supporter
of the ISM ‘Bacc for the Future’ campaign played an important role in affecting
a change in government policy over the place of music in the English
Baccalaureate proposals.

The Distinguished Musician Award has been recognising
outstanding contributions to musical life in the UK since 1976. However, this
is only the third time that the award has highlighted achievements in the field
of music education.

Chief executive of the ISM Deborah Annetts commented: 'I’m
delighted that Julian’s work in music education is recognised through this
award. He is passionate in his belief that every child, regardless of
background, deserves the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and
tirelessly devotes himself to campaigning issues alongside his busy performing
and recording career.'